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Uneven soundstage help, please.

I've got a pair of ATC SCM40 v2's driven by a Musical Fidelity A308 (plenty of power) and overall I'm happy with this combination, given my budget, wife, and listening habits. My system is in an incredibly complex large room, with all sorts of variables in terms of reflection, absorption, etc. And these aren't exactly the same from one speaker to another. I have no choice about speaker placement, given the room configuration.
There's a phenomenon that concerns me, though, that I haven't been able to resolve. In order to get the center centered, I need to position the speakers and listening chair in such a way that the soundstage extends all the way to one speaker, but only three-quarters of the way to the other. It doesn't sound out of whack. It's just a narrower field than I had with my older KEF References, and I wonder if it would sound even better if this was resolved.
Has anyone else faced and solved this? What factors are driving it? I've been living with it comfortably, but I wonder.
Thanks ahead of time for any replies.
m
m669326

Showing 1 response by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,984 posts
 
IF all is the same and only difference is the speakers used, dispersion pattern differences between the old and current speakers would most likely account for differences.

First though I would switch left and right channels to see if that reverses the soundstage. If so could be something different in one channel versus the other somewhere upstream and not the speakers or room.

Wider dispersion patterns tend to work well in more chaotic rooms with strange acoustics. THings will tend to even out better that way. Maybe the old KEFs had better dispersion than newer ATCs? Just wondering.

If it turns out to be the speakers and not the electronics, might consider a change at that point to find something better suited to the room.
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